Things have been coming up roses for the
defending Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns (17-3) as they have won 16
consecutive games, their second longest winning streak in their history. They
are not only one win away from tying their longest winning streak in team
history set back in the 2006-07 season, but one win away from tying the current
leaders in the Western Conference the Golden State Warriors (18-2), who they
play Tuesday night on TNT. This winning streak has been an exceptional
deodorant from a major investigation within their front office at the start of
November.
According to a ESPN.com report from Senior
NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski and senior writer reporter Baxter Holmes, the
NBA launched an investigation into Suns Governor Robert Sarver.
The NBA’s announcement that of using the law firm Wachtell Lipton to conduct the investigation
came in the wake of ESPN’s publishing of an investigative story that was based
on interviews with over 70 current and former Suns employees that painted a
description of at times a toxic and hostile working environment that has
consisted of racism and sexism under Sarver, the Suns owner since 2004.
“The allegations contained in today’s ESPN
article are extremely serious, and we have directed the Wachtell Lipton law
firm to commence a comprehensive investigation,” NBA Executive Vice President
of Communications Mike Bass said in a statement in early November. “The NBA and
WNBA remain committed to providing a respectful and inclusive workplace for all
employees. Once the investigation has been completed, its findings will provide
the basis for any legal action.”
The National Basketball Players
Association NBPA said that they were “continuing to review” the alleged
allegations against Mr. Sarver.
“We view these allegations as serious and
applaud the League’s decision to conduct an investigation,” the NBPA added. “We
will defer any further comments until that process has been concluded.”
One current business operations employee
for the Suns, in reference NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, said to ESPN, “If the
commissioner comes in and investigates to see what the [bleep] is going on in
Phoenix, [he] would be appalled.”
One specific incident Baxter brought to
light came on Oct. 30, 2016 when then
head coach Earl Watson, now an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors after a
106-100 loss to the then reigning Western Conference champion Warriors that
dropped the Suns to 0-3, Sarver went into the coach’s locker room and asked
according to Coach Watson why Warriors All-Star forward Draymond Green gets to
say the [N-word], which he repeated several times in a row during the
conversation?
Coach Watson, who is both African American
and Hispanic told Mr. Sarver, “You can’t say that.”
Sarver replied, “Why? Draymond Green says
[N-word].”
Watson then said, “You can’t f---ing say that”
Watson said again.
Sarver and his attorneys wrote that he did
not have that conversation with Coach Watson saying it was “absolutely untrue,”
but had a convo with a Suns player who was called for a technical foul in the
aforementioned contest against the Warriors for using the “N-word” during the
game.
Sarver said that he encouraged said player
to appeal the technical foul because Green used that word in the game. The
technical foul was later rescinded by the NBA.
“I remember the game and the topic
clearly. I of course never used the word myself. During this conversation, I
said ‘N-word’ without saying the full word,” Sarver said of that conversation
six seasons back. “The word itself never crossed my lips.”
“Let me be crystal clear. I never once
suggested on that night (or ever) that I should be able to say the “N-word”
because a player or a Black person uses it.”
The said player, through is agent, told
ESPN that he thought using the “N-word” played a role in him getting a
technical foul but has no recollection of speaking to Sarver that night. Coach
Watson also said that no player was in the room when Sarver made the comment.
Current Suns head coach Monty Williams,
whose team is currently on as mentioned a 16-game winning streak said before
their 123-111 win versus the Houston Rockets (4-16) on Nov. 4 about the
allegations against his boss, “As someone whose the caretaker of the program, I
find all of these things that are being said serious. In nature, these allegations
are sensitive is an understatement.”
“At the same time, there not just clear
yet, you know. An article was written. Many opinions were shared. But all of it
happened before I was here. Based on what you know about me, the little you
know about me, if any of that stuff happened while I was here, I wouldn’t be in
this seat.”
This one specific moment Baxter said in
his piece on Nov. 4 gave a glimpse into the kind of misconduct and toxic work
environment that sources told ESPN that Mr. Sarver has exhibited as Suns’
majority governor 17 years.
Those involved with the Suns told ESPN
that Mr. Sarver used racially insensitive language repeatedly in the office. They
also said to ESPN that his own conduct contributed to the culture that has had
an affect on how others in positions of leadership within the Suns organization
behaved wrongfully to their employees.
One other incident Suns employees
recounted that they felt was extremely inappropriate and misogynistic was Mr.
Sarver passed around a photo of his wife in a bikini and talking him talking
about the number of times his better half would perform an oral kind of love
making on him.
Suns employees even said that Mr. Sarver
fostered an environment where they felt he owned them like he was their master,
even one time asking a woman if he “owned” her to make the determination if she
worked for the organization.
“The level of misogyny and racism is
beyond the pale,” one Suns co-owner said about Sarver. “It’s embarrassing as an
owner.”
Another former Suns basketball executive
said: “There’s literally nothing you could tell me about him from a
misogynistic or race standpoint that would surprise me.”
Sarver through his legal team denied ever
using racially insensitive language saying he “never” called anybody or any
group of people “the N-word” or referred to anybody or any group of people by
the “N-word” either verbally or in writing.
“I don’t use that word,” Sarver said
through his legal team. It is abhorrent and ugly and denigrating and against
everything I believe in.”
Mr. Sarver did acknowledge through his
attorneys that he used the “N-word” just once several years back when a player
used the “N-word” in describing the
importance of having the back of others.
“I responded by saying, ‘I wouldn’t say
n—a, I would say that we’re in the foxhole together,” Mr. Sarver said of that
moment. “An assistant coach approached me a short time after and told me that I
shouldn’t say the word, even if I were quoting someone else. I immediately
apologized and haven’t said it ever again. The ‘N-word’ has never been a part
of my vocabulary.”
Before the league’s announcement, Sarver
said he would be supportive of any legal inquiry into the allegations made
against him saying that he would “entirely” be welcome to any impartial
investigation by the NBA which he feels will prove the only outlet to “clear”
his name as well as the reputation of his organization that he is “so very
proud” of.
Suns’ Legacy Partners President and Chief
Executive Officer Jason Rowley also said that he too welcomes any investigation
by the NBA into the allegations against Sarver.
“This story is completely outrageous and
false,” Rowley said in defense of Sarver to ESPN. “It doesn’t represent—at
all—the Robert Sarver I’ve worked alongside of for 15 years. He’s not a racist
and he’s not a sexist.”
Suns minority owner Jahm Najafi said in a
statement about aiding in the investigation, “The conduct he [Sarver] is alleged
to have committed has stunned and saddened me and is unacceptable.”
“The well-being and safety of every Suns
employee, player, coach, and stakeholder is first and foremost our priority. My
sincerest sympathy goes out to all whose lives and professions have been
impacted…Although today’s revelations far under the jurisdiction of the League
which decides and takes any action based on its findings, I offer my support to
ensure there is full accountability.”
Bass said the NBA has not “received” any
complaints of misconduct from the Suns through any of its processes, which
includes the NBA’s confidential workplace misconduct hotline or any other
correspondence.
NBPA Executive Director Michelle Roberts
said that she was not aware of any reports from the players about any form of
misconduct by Mr. Sarver or the Suns.
“Apart from [Suns All-Star guard Chris
Paul] and [General Manager] James Jones, we have not had much official contact
with the team and none that I can think of with Sarver.”
Current and former Suns employees did tell
ESPN that Mr. Sarver is known to say he is “brutal to work for,” which he has
repeatedly said over the years, even in job interviews.
Sarver has told executives that they were
“paid a lot of money to put up with my s---.”
Two current employees of the Suns also
said there is considerable internal support throughout the organization of the
independent investigation into the franchise’s culture over the past two
decades and that a number of Suns employees would as one of them said be “more
than willing to talk” to investigators.
“A lot of people view this as their chance
to right the ship,” the second Suns employee said to ESPN.
In a recruiting pitch to sign Hall of
Famer Steve Nash, Mr. Sarver, Nash’s agent Bill Duffy and 2003 Kia Rookie of
the Year Amar’e Stoudemire, now an assistant coach with Nash with the Brooklyn
Nets, both of whom are African American, Sarver, according to three other
people in the room at that time said Mr. Sarver made a comment that felt
racially insensitive. While they could not remember what he specifically said,
they felt he too often said “Black guy” during the conversation.
A basketball executive who was there at
that moment said, “we signed Nash despite Robert.”
The Suns current point guard, a future
Hall of Famer in Chris Paul after his performance of nine points and 13 assists
versus the Rockets said after the win about the allegations against Mr. Sarver
that he and his teammates are “not insensitive” to everything said.
“But we don’t know all the details, right,”
Paul added. “So, the NBA will do its investigation. And in that time, all of us
on our team will continue to play and do what we do.”
Fellow All-Star Devin Booker, who has
spent his entire seven-year career with the Suns added said that he has not “noticed”
any kind of misconduct by Sarver or any front office personnel. Booker did say
that the allegations of misconduct by Sarver does not make him “insensitive to
the subject, you know.”
“I think the NBA opened an investigation,
and they’re going to do their due diligence of, you know, bringing out facts
instead of he said, she said. And you know, I’m sure the NBA has it in good
hands. Will do the proper research to, you know, find out the truth.”
Then there was the time when Sarver used
the “N-word” in trying to explain to a staffer why he hired Lindsey Hunter, who
was the first-year development coordinator over former Suns’ great Dan Majerle,
who was in his fifth season as the Suns’ associate head coach as head coach in
2013, according to a high-level executive that overheard the remark of Sarver
saying of his largely African American team, “These [N-word] need a [N-word].
Mr. Sarver cited race as the reason to
hired Coach Watson in 2016, a former Suns basketball executive said: A young
Black coach could better relate to Black players, Sarver reasoned, and could
“speak their language.”
Sarver through his legal team denied those
allegations that he “never used words to that effect,” and said that race never
was part of the discussion during Watson’s hiring process.
This is the fourth investigation of
alleged allegations that have had surrounded serious allegations into
misconduct by the governor of an NBA squad since Mr. Silver took over as NBA
Commissioner in 2014.
For an owner to be removed and to put the
team up for sale for violating of the NBA’s constitution and bylaws, it will
take 75 percent (three-fourth’s) vote of the league’s board of governors.
In April 2014, Commissioner Silver
suspended former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling following the
release of audio recordings of him using racist language about African
Americans, including his own players. In an appearance on CNN, Mr. Sterling
famed the flames of those comments, which further dug his grave in terms of his
standing amongst the other 29 owners in the league, and the Clippers were sold for
a then NBA record $2 million to current owner and former CEO of Microsoft Steve
Ballmer in August 2014.
The pressure from an investigation into a
plethora of racially tinged observations on the game-night fan base that came
partially from the NBA’s inquiry, which also consisted of self-reporting of an
internal e-mail, then majority owner of the Atlanta Hawks Bruce Levenson sold
the franchise to an ownership group led by current Hawks owner since 2015 Tony
Ressler for $850 million.
The Dallas Mavericks were the headliner of
a league investigation into claims of workplace misconduct and sexual
harassment dug up and revealed in a 2018 Sports Illustrated piece in
2018.
The results of those findings led to
Mavericks owner since 2000 Mark Cuban to donate $10 million to charities, which
included those that combat domestic violence towards women. Mr. Cuban did not face
any punishment or suspension.
While no substantial evidence about Mr.
Sarver misconduct as owner of the Suns for 17 years has been clearly proven,
there have been some signs of these allegations having some truth to them.
Ever since the story about the allegations
came out about Phoenix Suns Governor Robert Sarver, the Suns have not lost
winning 13 of their 16 consecutive wins. The team led by head coach Monty
Williams and the All-Star backcourt of Chris Paul and Devin Booker have kept
the defending Western Conference champions focused on the hardwood.
What happens with the investigation into
Mr. Sarver and his alleged misconduct will be determined by what is found to be
true by the Wachtell Lipton law firm. If the allegations turn out to be true,
Sarver’s tenure in the “Valley of the Sun” could be over.
Information and quotations are courtesy of
11/4/2021 www.espn.com story, “Allegations Of
Racism And Misogyny Within The Phoenix Suns: Inside Robert Sarver’s 17-Year
Tenure As Owner,” By Baxter Holmes; 11/4/2021 www.espn.com
story, “NBA Launches Investigation Into Phoenix Suns Owner Robert Sarver Over
Racism, Sexism Chargers,” By Baxter Holmes and Adrian Wojnarowski; and 11/5/2021
9:30 a.m. NBATV’s “Gametime,” presented by Kia With Matt Winer, Greg Anthony,
and Brendan Haywood.
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